As one means for densifying a magnetic disk, a bit patterned medium (BPM) is under review. The BPM has a magnetic area with magnet dots and a non-magnetic area without magnetic dots. Partitioning the magnetic area into magnetic dots to suppress the bit inversion due to thermal fluctuation, thereby enabling improvement in recording density. Further, the non-magnetic area, in combination with the magnetic area, can be used as a servo area.
In a BPM medium as a next-generation magnetic recording medium (HDD medium), fine and dense magnetic dots are required here. It is also necessary to accurately partition the magnetic area and the non-magnetic area.
However, it is not always easy to accurately form the magnetic area with fine and dense magnetic dots and the non-magnetic area without magnetic dots.